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Tech Tip: Buy a UPS – a Battery Backup

Sunday got me motivated to get an Uninterruptable Power Supply set up for our projector and computer in the auditorium at church.

We had a brief power outage Sunday morning. The projector, projector computer, audio recording computer, sound board, amplifier, and microphones all cycled out. The outage was less than ten seconds, but it was enough of a distraction to throw me off for a few minutes.

We hadn’t installed a UPS on the system in the past. We had talked about it, but hadn’t gotten around to it. We’ve got plans in place to get one in ASAP.

Interested in getting one? Here’s what you might need to know.

First, figure out how much power you need.

Calculate the wattage of your equipment and you’ll be able to figure out exactly what you need. Almost anything electrical will have a wattage rating somewhere on it. For us…

Projector Computer: 300 watts max

Projector: 350 watts max

Sound board: 20 watts

Amplifier: 200 watts

Our total is 870 watts with everything at max power. For what it’s worth, very seldom does this equipment draw anywhere close to max power. There’s a great little device called a “Kill a Watt” that you can get online or at places like Harbor Freight. Plug it into the wall, plug your equipment into it, and it will tell you exactly how much energy it uses in watts. This is a great way to check your math. Don’t forget, though, that some equipment uses significantly more power when first turned on than during normal use, so you want to watch those numbers carefully.

Only include what you need to keep up and running during a brief outage. Is it okay with me if the monitors go out for a few seconds? Sure. They’ll be back on in less than 10 seconds when the power comes up.

My main concerns were the computers, projector, and sound system.

The projector takes a minute or two to cool down and a minute or two to come back up. The computer might take 5 minutes to come back up if it needs to “scan and repair” as they sometimes do after an improper shutdown. Don’t forget to count the time it takes to open your PowerPoint, find the right spot in the file, etc.

Select a UPS unit based on watt rating

I did a quick search on Amazon. For $150, shipped, there is a 900 watt UPS. That would cover everything I need with some wiggle room. I could get two smaller units and divide out the equipment if that worked better based on my wiring, too. They have a 1,200 watt unit for $198 that would cover my audio recording computer and the LCD monitors, too.

Installation

It’s easy. Plug in the UPS to the wall. Plug your equipment into the UPS. Turn it on.

Really, that’s it!

Final thoughts

Seriously, it’s easy. There’s no good reason for you not to do it.

As an added bonus, many (most?) of the units out there include some sort of insurance. If your equipment is damaged by an electrical surge when properly installed and plugged in to the unit, they may even pay for replacement. Many of us work at churches with very high deductibles on the insurance policy, so this can be a big help.

When the power flickered, because I could see the sound guys running around trying to fix things, I was probably distracted for a couple of minutes. We had 122 at worship that morning. Every minute I speak takes two hours of the collective group’s life.

I don’t want to waste two minutes (4 hours!) because of a 2 second power blip.

This stuff won’t keep your equipment on indefinitely, but it’s likely to get you through most of the quick outages we face.

Hope this saves you some headache! Go buy a UPS!

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One thought on “Tech Tip: Buy a UPS – a Battery Backup”

Same thing happened to us at Brentwood Hills a few weeks ago. Happened once at each AM service. Projection computers were backed up, but not projectors (didn’t help much). Apparently, power interruptions are fairly common at BH from what I hear. After taking notice, I think there are more UPS units in this building than people…just not on the projectors. Hopefully this will happen soon. Thanks for the tips!